This year Awakenings Festival was a bit more special than any other year. It was the 15th anniversary of the legendary gathering for the best techno representatives in the industry supported by the craziest techno dedicated crowd in the world. 15 years of raving meant there must be a proper celebration for the occasion.
As usual, Awakenings had many things in store for their visitors during their two day program, which topped anything one has ever seen at previous editions of the festival. Starting from the spectacular line up that they put together, which included up and coming talents through very successful artists at present to the iconic techno legends. All of them being the ambassadors of techno rocked the Awakenings crowd to the grounds from the outset.
Moving to the general organization of the event, it is noticeable that there is some solid experience involved. It is almost a mission impossible to organize such a massive event for thousands of people without experiencing issues. Yet I can confidently say that unlike many other events I have attended, here I did not encounter any issues like never-ending queues for drinks, toilets, etc. Yet in my opinion, one of the best things about Awakenings is that it is one of the few places around the world, where one could still see, feel and participate in the real underground culture of electronic music. Describing the festival as the definition of underground culture might sound contradicting to some, since it is such a massive event for a huge number of people, and most of all heavily marketed, but I would disagree with that. Despite the abovementioned, for me it remains a place where one can find freedom and a great escape from everyday life.
Throughout both days there was only quality music coming out of the speakers at each area. My personal highlights though, included the extremely fresh and upbeat afternoon set of Luciano followed by Loco Dice, Adam Beyer and the undoubtedly king of techno Richie Hawtin, who came back on the Awakenings stage with full power since his last performance there in 2009. On Sunday, Joris Voorn hosted a stage with the finest tech house acts at the moment which kept the groove at a continuous level throughout the day. Needless to say that the MINUS stage was hard to leave as it was full of great artists delivering high quality sets.
Awakenings’ next events will take place during ADE, starting from the 15th of October, with Drumcode, Carl Cox & Friends, Joris Voorn & Friends, Electric Deluxe.
